The INVEST conference, an international meeting to define the scientific goals and technology needed for a new ocean drilling program, was held at the University of Bremen between the 22nd and the 25th of September 2009. Based on the large attendance and vigorous engagement of scientists in the discussion of new science/technology ideas, INVEST was extremely successful. Initially 400 participants were expected, but the INVEST steering and organization committees were thrilled to see a much larger number of scientists flock to Bremen to demonstrate their support and enthusiasm for the continuation of an
international scientific ocean drilling program.
In all, 584 participants, including 64 students, from 21 nations and >200 institutions and agencies attended the INVEST conference. Contributions to INVEST included 103 submitted white papers that are lectures, chosen to highlight overarching themes and new research directions.
The conference was sponsored by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International (IODP-MI), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and MARUM research center. The National Program Offices supported travel for many participants.
Keynote lectures
Vincent Courtillot – Ocean Drilling: A 21st Century Endeavor to Understand the Earth System
Hans Christian Larsen – Future Program Planning Process and Facilities
Terry Plank – Down and Back Again: Cycles and Growth at Convergent Margins Jim Zachos – The Potential and Promise of Studies of Past Warm Worlds
Dave Hodell – Paleoclimate Opportunities to Constrain Abrupt and Rapid Climate Change
Nation Participants
Kiyoshi Suyehiro – Ocean Borehole Observatories: Scanning and Sounding the Earth in Motion
Tori Hoehler – The View from Space: What Ocean Drilling can Tell us About Habitability, Life's Limits, and the Possibilities for Life Beyond Earth
Andrew Fisher – Achievements and Challenges in Subseafloor Hydrogeology during Scientific Ocean Drilling
Bo Barker Jørgensen – Microbial Life in the Deep Seabed – The Starving Majority Naohiko Ohkouchi – Future Directions in Probing Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Peter Kelemen – Future IODP Studies of CO2 Capture and Storage: Focused Research and Synergies with other Science Goals
Jeff Kiehl – Paleoceanography: Providing Critical Knowledge to Improve Climate Model Predictions
Greg Myers – Engineering to Support Transformative Science in Ocean Drilling
Working group sessions
The working group sessions were organized within six conference themes. Each meeting attendee was given the opportunity to participate in three working groups: one within conference themes one through three (days 1 and 2), one within conference themes four and five (days 2 and 3), and one within conference theme six (day 3). Up to 18 working groups met in parallel sessions. All working groups within one conference theme met to report to each other the results of the working group discussions. The conference theme co-chairs then met with the working group chairs and scribes to prepare a plenary presentation of the conference theme.
List of conference themes (CT) and working groups (WG) with the names of chairs and scribes in brackets
CT1: Co-evolution of Life and Planet (Rick Colwell, Richard Norris)
WG1.1: Extent and habitability of subseafloor life and the biosphere (Steven D'Hondt, Jennifer Biddle)
WG1.2: Biogeochemical function, activity, and ecological roles of subseafloor life (Wiebke Ziebis, Timothy Ferdelman)
WG1.3: Limits and evolution of life on Earth and beyond (Ken Takai, Eric Gaidos)
WG1.4: Extreme environmental events and punctuated evolution (Mitchell Schulte, Ellen Martin)
WG1.5: Paleo-ecosystems: biodiversity and biogeography (Andy Purvis/Paul Pearson, Mark Leckie)
WG1.6: Co-evolution of ocean chemistry and the surface/subsurface biospheres (Rachel James, Richard Murray)
CT2: Earth’s Interior, Crust, and Surface Interactions (Donna Blackman, Susumu Umino) WG2.1: Behavior of the geodynamo (Toshitsugu Yamazaki, Joseph Stoner)
WG2.2: Mantle flow and interactions with the lithosphere (Nicholas Arndt, Kaj Hoernle) WG2.3: Variability in ocean crust composition and structure (Chris MacLeod, Barbara
John)
WG2.4: Plate aging: ridge to trench (Robert Harris, Geoff Wheat) WG2.5: Subduction zones and volcanic arcs (Lisa McNeill, Eli Silver) WG2.6: Initiation of plate boundaries (Dale Sawyer, Gianreto Manatschal)
CT3: Climate Change – Records of the Past, Lessons for the Future (Yusuke Yokoyama, Alan Mix)
WG3.1: Extreme and/or rapid climatic events (Junichiro Kuroda, Terrence Quinn) WG3.2: High latitude regions and stability of ice sheets (Carlota Escutia, Rüdiger Stein) WG3.3: Rates and amplitudes of sea-level change (Jody Webster, Peter Clift)
WG3.4: Ocean-atmosphere circulation dynamics (Michael Schulz, Matthew Huber) WG3.5: From Greenhouse to Icehouse worlds (Henk Brinkhuis, Mitchell Malone) WG3.6: Sensitivity of the climate system (Jeffrey Kiehl, Mitch Lyle)
CT4: Earth System Dynamics, Reservoirs, and Fluxes (Damon Teagle, Peter Clift) WG4.1: Ocean-crust-mantle cycles (Richard Arculus, Pat Castillo)
WG4.2: Controls and feedbacks on hydrocarbon storage and emissions (Ian MacDonald, Evan Solomon)
WG4.3: Carbon cycle and redox budget (Klaus Wallmann, Peggy Delaney)
WG4.4: Fluid-flow, heat-flow, and hydrothermal systems (Andrew Fisher, Marvin Lilley) WG4.5: Continent-ocean fluxes, weathering processes, and linkages (Hongbo Zheng,
Liviu Giosan)
WG4.6: (Bio)geochemical element cycles (Nao Ohkouchi, Jan Amend)
WG4.7: Tectonic-climate interactions (John Jaeger, Gabriele Ünzelmann-Neben)
CT5: Earth-Human-Earth Interactions (Pinxian Wang, Achim Kopf) WG5.1: Geohazards: earthquakes (Shuichi Kodaira, Harold Tobin)
WG5.2: Geohazards: submarine landslides and mass movements (Angelo Camerlenghi, Sebastian Krastel)
WG5.3: Geohazards: volcanic eruptions and bolide impacts (Julia Morgan, Joanna Morgan)
WG5.4: Ocean acidification: past and future (Hodaka Kawahata, Ellen Thomas) WG5.5: Subseafloor resources (Tetsuro Urabe, Bramley Murton)
WG5.6: CO2 sequestration (Margot Godard, Peter Kelemen)
WG5.7: Improving sea-level change predictions (Gregory Mountain, Craig Fulthorpe) WG5.8: Climate, human evolution, and civilization (Peter deMenocal, Stefan Mulitza) WG5.9: Ultrahigh-resolution records to improve climate change prediction (Terrence
Quinn, Robert Dunbar)
CT6: Science Implementation (James Cowen, Susan Humphris, Clive Neal) WG6.1: Observatories (Earl Davis, Craig Moyer/Peter Girguis, Robert Harris)
WG6.2: Subseafloor laboratories and experiments (Beth Orcutt, Adam Klaus/Elizabeth Screaton, Dave Smith)
WG6.3: Platform, drilling, and logging tools: needs and opportunities (Hiroshi Asanuma, Alberto Malinverno/Peter Flemings, Yasuhiro Yamada)
WG6.4: Site characterization and integration with the borehole (Gail Christeson, Chun-Feng Li/Nobukazu Seama, Nathan Bangs)
WG6.5: Analytical needs and development (Yuki Morono, Mike Lovell/Clive Neal, Steven D‘Hondt)
WG6.6: Balancing long-term projects and single expeditions (Keir Becker, Jim Mori/Kiyoshi Suyehiro)
WG6.7: Program management options to optimize integration (Ulrich Harms, Gabriel Filippelli/Masaru Kono, Timothy Byrne)
WG6.8: Develop broad vision for outreach, branding, and education (Katherine Ellins, Mark Leckie/Tatsuhiko Sakamoto, Kristen St. John)
Steering Committee
The INVEST steering committee was charged with organizing the INVEST meeting, selecting keynote speakers, defining working group sessions and leaders, and writing the INVEST meeting report.
Sponsors:
University of Bremen
Meeting host: Gerold Wefer
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany
IODP-MI
Contact: Hans Christian Larsen Vice President of Science Planning Head, IODP-MI Sapporo Office, Japan